EX-JOCKEY turned pub landlady Jean Newman has rekindled her passion for the Sport of Kings in her latest venture.

Mrs Newman, 42, a pioneer of women's participation in horseracing during the late 1970s and early 1980s, has taken the reins of an 18th Century public house at Sherburn, on the outskirts of Durham City.

The pub, a former watering hole of local miners known as the Coal Hole, has been renamed the Bay Horse and Mrs Newman has decorated it with horse memorabilia - many of it from her short but extraordinary career as a flat jockey.

The daughter of a County Durham miner, she won 15 races in only 30 rides for local trainers Mick Naughton and Bill Watts, but was dogged by injuries. She quit the sport after breaking her neck for the second time while training a horse and doctors warned the next serious fall could have been fatal.

Remarkably, such was the male domination of horseracing at the time, that Mrs Newman never rode against another woman - but instead pitted her skills against the likes of Lester Piggott and Pat Eddery.

Now a mother-of-three,she is running the Bay Horse with 53-year-old partner, Rodie. They are receiving business start-up support from the Durham office of Walker Hall Associates.

Jean and Rodie have run pubs and restaurants in Durham, Newcastle, Wiltshire and Essex.

Jean said: "The last thing we want is for people to think the Bay Horse is just a bar full of men betting on horse races. The pub is very olde worlde and has a wonderful, homely atmosphere and a good set of regulars."